Gerrard ruled out for three weeks

15 minutes post-Keane. That’s all it took. 15 minutes. Throw in a Lucas red card, a hobbling Torres and a faded, disjointed Riera and Kuyt and you’ve got the rest of Liverpool’s season.

Gerrard to miss three weeks with a hamstring tear

As Gerrard walked off to the merciless cheers of the home support and Everton pricked Liverpool’s bubble of optimism post-Chelsea, Rafael Benitez faced up to an awkward couple of weeks, starting Saturday. Gerrard had looked tired in recent weeks, that is true and in fairness, post-bar brawl has not looked the player he was in the pre-bar brawl games. While this is fair and Rafa is right when he says that the press who complained when he withdrew his captain against Wigan can see the result when he got injured, the fact is Gerrard shouldn’t have started this game.

For a man so spectacularly singular in his thoughts, he can be absolutely mind-boggling at times. He rests teams in the FA Cup. The fans get their backs up. He rests half his team for the FA Cup. The fans finally get to the stage where they can see a league title somewhere, however vaguely, in the horizon, and he puts out the same, knackered team that he started with against Chelsea, albeit it with superficial Dossena and Mascherano changes. Why? He’s left himself with Ngog as a squad player who will certainly be called upon this season, without any doubt. Even if Torres miraculously goes without injuries, he won’t be able to play all the time. And why not last night? Torres got beaten, soundly, by Lescott and Jagielka in both recent games. His role is so important post-Keane that a majority would rather see Gerrard missing for three weeks than Torres. And yet both play last night, and what’s worse, Torres gets another kicking, gets dominated by Jagielka (who has to be in Capello’s thoughts now based on January alone) and it will not be a surprise if he doesn’t start against Portsmouth, thereby resting him for Spain’s clash with England on Wednesday.

Rafa knows Liverpool fans wouldn’t take kindly to a weak team being put out against Everton. But when has he ever listened to his heart over his head? Last night was a big blow to Liverpool and a timely reminder to the young players at Liverpool that they won’t get many chances to impress. Like Keane, Rafa expects total accuracy with tactics, and tolerates little else. Except from himself.